Rotary reciprocating engine



April 26, 1927. 1,625,841

A. H. WRIGHT ROTARY RECIPROCATING ENGINE Filed April 16, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 A ril 26 1927.

p A. H. WRIGHT ROTARY RECIPROCATING ENGINE 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filed April 16, 1926 April 26.1927.

A. H. WRIGHT ROTARY RECIPROCATING ENGINE Filed April 16, 1926 4 Sheets-Shet 3 1,625,841v Aprl 26 1927' A. H. WRIGHT ROTARY RECIPROCATI NG ENGINE Filed April 1e. 192e 4 sheets-Sheet 4 Fly 7 www wmp# I @faggi/g Patented Apr. 26, 1927.

ll NTE D ARTHUR IjI. WBG'l, OE MINNEIPQLL MINNESOTA ROTARY ancirnocATI-Ne ENGINE.

Application filed April 1G, 1926.

liiy invention has for its Object to provide an improved engine of the type wherein reciprocating motion produced by cylinder and cooperating pistons is. converted into rotary motion in the engine proper and without the use offcranlrs and cooperating connecting rods. Especially, this engine has been designed for use as an internal combustion engine, but thebroader features involved therein may be used in engines wherein steam or.` compressed air is the motive iiuid.

ln lzwcordance with iny invention, I ern-v plcy, a nonrotary casing or outer support, a `cylinder structure arranged` to rotatev within said casing or support, pistons arranged to reciprocate within the cylinder structure while rotating therewith, and an obliquely set connecting ring .arranged to. rotate within the support or outer casing and having such connect-ions to the cylinders and pistons that reciprocating motion of the latter' will cause the cylinders and the pistons to rota-te. This arrangement permits rotary Inotion to be taken directly ofi' from the rotating cylinder structure.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section taken axially through the engine; y

Fig. 2 is an oblique section taken on the line Qf-Q of Fig. 1;

Fig. Slisa transverse section taltenon the line 3 3 of Fig. 1, some parts being broken away and some parts removed;

Fig. 4f is a transverse section taken on the line of Fig. 1;

liig. 5 is a. transverseY section .taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Figs. 6, and 8 are diagrainmaticviews chiefly in axial section, illustrating dierent positions ofthe cylinder, sleeve piston and pistons proper.

Directing attention first to Figs. G, 7 and 8. it will be noted that the primary mova le elements of the engine are a long cylin. der 9, a sleeve pistony 10, and pistons proper l1, the latter being connected by a con-- necting bar or ineinber 12. The y.sleeve pis- 'ton 10, as will `hereinafter appear, operates both as a piston and as a cylinder.V It is arranged` to reciprocate within the cylinder `proper 9 and the pistons 11 are arranged Serial No. 102,439.

to work within the opposite ends offsaid sleeve piston.

By means presently to` be described, the cylinder 9, sleevefpiston 10 and pistons 1'1l are arranged to partake oia common rotary motion on the connnon anis thereof.

By reference particularly to Fig. 1, it will be noted'that the cylinder 9 has rigidly secured heads 13 to which shafts 14 are rigidly secured and arranged to project axially. therefrom. These shafts 14 are journaled in the yoke-lilfre end portions, 15 cfa nonrotary or fixed outer shell made up of an intermediate section 16 and endseotions 17. Interposed between and rigidly secured to the flanged abutting ends of: the

sections lo. and 17 are annulary joint plates 18 that have close beveled engagement with beveled flanges 19 secured on the rotany; cylinder 9, as best shown in 1.

The cylinder heads 13 are provided with ports normally closed by lightly spring.- closed inwardly opening check valves 20. The valves v20- vnormally close fuel intake ports 2.1 formed partly in said heads 13 and partly in diarnetrically spaced longitudinally extended intake tubes 2Q that are secured to the exterior of the cylinder .9 and open through the flanges 19. of said cylinder 9. Here it may be stated thatthe explosive mixture, preferably supplied from a suitable carburetor 23, is taken into the annular fuel chamber 165- formed within the intermediate shell section 16 between the jointplates 18..

rlhe rotary cylinder 9, outward of the annular joint plates 18, `is' provid-ed with circuinferentially spaced exhaust ports 24 indicatedby dotted lines in Fig. 1 and by full lines in Fig. 5; and in the plates of' these two series of ports, the outer shell sections v17 are formed with spiral exhaust channels Qshown in Figs. 1 and 5,.

For cooperation with the cylinder ports 24, the sleeve piston 10 is formed with corresponding clrcuinferentially haust ports 26 which, at the right in Fig. 1, are .shown as registered with 4the cooper.- ating ports Q4, but, at the left, are-shown out of registration with their cooperating cylinder ports 24. i

At opposite ends, the sleeve piston 10 is provided with heads 27 Vhaving admission ports normally closed by inwardly opening check valves 2S. These check valves 28 ,are mounted for limited sliding increments in spaced enT lll the respective heads .7 and have cylindrical bodies formed with circumferentially spaced ports. The beveled joint flanges 19,011 the rotary cylinder 9, adjacent to the intake ends of the admission ports formed by the tubes 22, are provided with beveled plates or vanes 29`inclined in a direction to assist in forcing the explosive mixture from the chamber 16a into the said intake ports. To produce a forced circulation of air for cooling of the engine, the cylinder 9 is shown as provided with outstanding spiral fins or webs 30, the one being a right-hand thread and the other being a left-hand thread, and so arranged that under rotation of the cylinder in a clockwise direction in respect to Fig; 5, said fins will force the cold air toward the spiral exhaust channel By reference to Fig. 5, it Will be noted that the cylinder 9, adjacent to its exhaust ports 24, are provided with curved vanes or blades 31 that assist centrifugal force in forcing the exhaust gases radially outward.

Located within the chamber 16a and freely surrounding the rotary cylinder 9 is an oblique connecting ring 3Q that is set in a plane that is oblique to the axis of the cylinder, being preferably set at fortydive degrees thereto. This ring 32, as shown, has a rigidly secured sectional ball runway 39 engaged by bearing balls 33, (see Figs. 1 and 2), that are arranged to run on an annular ball runway 34 that is set in a correspondingly oblique seat formed in the fixed intermediate outer shell section 16. The connecting ring 32 is thus mounted so that it can move only by rotation in the oblique plane in which it is set.

An oblique connecting shaft 35 is extended diametrically through the connecting ring 32 and this shaft is extended freely through diametrically opposite obliquely extended sleeves 36 that have transverse hubs 36st The bearing hub 36a of one of the sleeves 36 is mounted to oscillate in a rectangular bearing or portion 12"L of the piston-con-` necting bar or crosshead 12, While the bearing hub 36 of the other sleeve 36 is journaled in a rectangular bearing or portion 10a of the sleeve piston 10. The bearing 1Q is mounted to reciprocate in longitudinal slots 911 and 10" formed, respectively, in the cylinder 9 and sleeve piston 10, (see Figs. 1 and 2). The bearing 1()a is mounted to slide freely in a longitudinal slot 9J of the piston 9. In the arrangement just above described, the bearings 1()n and 19a work much like crossheads in the cooperating slots and cause the cylinder 9, sleeve piston 10, pistons 11, and connecting bar 12 to partake of common rotary motion Within the relatively fixed outer shell or casing 16-1'T.

An engine of the type disclosed requires ignition connections of special construction and, as shown, these are as follows: Mount ed in each piston 11 and exposed to the cooperating erplosion chamber is a spark plug 37 of the usual or any suitable construction, one electrode of which is grounded through the engine and the other electrode of Which is connected to a Wire 38. The wires 38, tsce Figs. 1, 2 and 3), are extended inde pendently through insulating bushings 39 applied to the pistolrconnecting bar 12 at diametrically opposite and longitudinally spaced points. The outer ends oli said wires 38 are terminated in metallic plates or heads 40.` These terminal plates 40 are arranged to be brought nearly or quite into contact with terminal plates or heads `4l on the inner extremities of the lead wires 42 mounted in insulating segments 43 secured to the exterior of the cylinder' 9 centrally thereof and at diametrically opposite points. Said terminal plates 41 are at diametri 'ally opposite points and are so related that the terminal plates 40 nearly or quite brush the saine at the proper time to produce sparks at the respective plugs 37. This relative location Will be more clearly stated in the description of the operation. The Wires 42, as shown, terminate in contact plates44countersunk in the insulating segments 42 and arranged to move past a common Contact brush 45 shown as mounted in but insillated from a sleeve-lilre holder 46. To adjust the ignition system in respect to the lead, the holder 46 is shown as extended through a circumferential slot 47 in the case section 16 and is adjustably clamped thereto by nuts 48.

Operation.

Before following in detail thc various steps in a complete cycle of operation of the engine, attention is called to the following facts:

The explosive mixture will be com Dressed and exploded in the spaces between tie pistons 11 and the heads 27 of the sleeve piston 10, and the force of an explosion will canse the pistons proper to move in one direction and the sleeve piston to move in the other direction Within the cylinder 9. In Fig. l, the shaft 35 is shown as at its extreme angular position of forty-five degrees, in which position, the couplincr mechanism is at its dead center, and if tlie explosion should be produced with the parts at rest While in this extreme or dead center position, the force of the explosion would he neutralized and the cylinder, sleeve piston and pistons would not be rotated in either direction. flowever.` when the engine is under momentum, the action of the dead center will nearly or quite disappear and, moreover. the explosives Will be timed so that they will occur just after the shaft 35 has passed dead center position. llore, attention is also called to the fact that when the explosion is produced and the sleeve piston and pistons are Il (i cooling the cylinder.

under vforce to move in reverse directions at a time when the shatt 35 is off dead center, such torce transmitted to the rotary oblique ring 32, will; cause said ringl to rotate and, ot course. when the said ring rotates, the shaft 35 will travelWith yit and, through the connections described, the cylinder, sleeve piston and pistons proper will be caused to rotate, `as already stated. Under such rotation,` the piston 9, does not, of course, move axially, but the sleeve piston and pistons proper will reciprocate while partaliing of anonimon rotation with the cylinder 9. As the ring 32 rotates, the shaft 39 will change its angular position, first moving from its tortydive degree inclination to the axis' ot' the cylinder until it reaches a vertical plane when 1t will stand perpendicular to the axis ot the cylinder, and from such perpendicular` position 21S it Continues to berotated With the cylinder, it will again vary its angular position until it reaches its opposite dead center at a position ninety degrees from that shown in F ig. l.

lVith the above general statements oil' operation, the following specific illustration oi a cycle of operation Will be more readily understood.

The rotation of the cylinder and parts movable therewith will be inthe direction ot the arrows marked on F ig. 5 to Wit: in a clockwise direction in respect to Fig. 5. its sume that the. explosive charge has been compressed,between the left-hand head 27 ot' the sleeve piston and the cooperating piston ll, and thatthe ring 32 has been rotated slightly beyond the dead center position of the shaft 35 shown in Fig. l. In this p0- sition, the spark plug circuit Will be closed by movement of the cooperating plate le past the brush l5 and movement of the plate l0 past the cooperating plate or Contact lll, thereby causing the spark necessary to produce the explosion. W'hen this explosion is produced, the pistons `ll will he moved toward the right and the explosive piston lO will be moved toward the lett in respect to Fig, l. When the left-hand piston ll passes the lett-hand ports 26 ot the sleeve piston l0, said lett-hand ports 26 will be in registration With the left-hand exhaust ports 24 of the cylinder) and exhaust Will then take place through the ports 2l and 26, as best shown in Fig. l, and this exhaust will be directed outward through the spiral exhaust channel 25 and, at the same time, coldair Will be drawn inward` partly by the suction produced from the exhaust and partly by the action ot the spiral flange 3G, thereby As soon as the gases have been exhausted from the leithand explosion chamber, as just described, the er;- plosive vapor compressed in the let-hand end of the cylinder 9 Will cause the valve 2S to open, thereby transterring the explosive Charge into `theslzmce bet-Ween the lett-hand head 2T and lett-hand piston 1l. Under the movement .just noted ot the pistons from the lett toward the right and oi the sleeve piston from the right toward the lett, said righe hand piston first closes the ports 26 ot' said4 sleeve piston and then compresses the charge of explosive vapor wit-hin theright-hand end of the sleeve piston 9 and lO so that it, in turn, will be transferred to the explosion chamber as soon as exhaust has been com-` pleted in the i-ight+l1and explosion chamber.

in this arrangement, it isevident that explosions in the lett and right-hand ends of the sleeve piston will be alternated and will: take place one. hundred and eighty degrees apart in respect to the rotation of the cylinder. Otherwise. stated, there will be one explosion in each chamber for each rotation ot' the cylinder and tivo explosions in the engine for each complete rotation or cycle'of operation. When the explosion is produced in the right-hand end oilv the sleeve piston, the latter will be caused to move from the lett toward the right While the pistons are being moved from the right toward the left, and at such time, the valve 38 willbe closed and the lett-hand intake valve 2O will be opened, thereby drawing the new charge ot the explosive mixture from the chamber 16@ through the tubes 22 and ports` 2l.

At the right-hand end ot the engine shown in Fig. l, the condition illustrated just before the eXhausth-as been completed, but it will be understood that just an in stant later, the pressure from the esplode-d gases will, by exhaust, be reduced below` that of the pressure of the compressedg'as in the right-hand end of `the cylinder and that the valve 28 will then be automatically opened to permit the compressed charge to be transferred into the right-hand end oi the sleeve piston l0.

The diagrammatic view 6 illustrates the same conditions that exist in Fig'. l. Fig-` 7 illustrates the condition that exists when the cylinder has been rotated ninety degrees from the position shown in Figs. l and 5, and Fig, 8 illustrates a condition just op-k posite 'i'roin that illustrated inFigs. l and G, that is, a condition that exists when the cylinder has been rotated one hundred and eighty degrees from the position shown in Figs. l, 5v and 6.

Considering tui-ther the arrangement ot the ignition devices, attention iscalled to` the fact that, under the combined rotary and reciprocatiim` movements, the contact or terminal plates el() that are carried by the piston-connecting bar or member l2 are caused to travel the lines ot substantially elliptical curves drawn ou a cylindrical sur- ;t'ace. rl'he contacts la rotate with but do not move axially of the rotary cylinder and, hence. they alternately pass the relatively CII fixed contact or terminal to produce the alternate explosions in the opposite ends of the cylinder. The contacts 40 are diametrically opposite but are oli'set longitudinally of the piston-connecting member l2 and are so located that each, in its proper order, will pass the cooperating contact 4l at the time the contact 44 for Ithe cylinder to be tired passes the lixed contact or terminal 45. This arrangement, therefore, produces the alternate explosions in the opposite ends of the cylinder at the proper times, but the sparking instant may be advanced or retarded somewhat by circumferential adjustments ol the Contact or terminal 45.

The invention has above been designated as an engine, but the word engine is used in a very broad and liberal sense to include a device operated as a pump. When the device is to be used as a pump, rotary motion will, of course, be imparted to the cylinder by application ol: external torce.

What I claim is:

LAn engine comprising a. cylinder, piston and outer support, said piston having a reciprocating movement within said cylinder, and an oblique rotary connection between said cylin'der and outer support arranged to cause rotation ot one ot the elements in respect to the other when said piston is reciprocated.

2. In anengine, the combination with an outer support, of a cylinder arranged to rotate within said support, a sleeve piston working within said cylinder, a piston proper working within'said cylinder, and an oblique connection reacting against said support and coupled to said sleeve piston and piston proper tor rotation therewith, whereby said cylinder, sleeve piston and piston proper will be rot-ated when said sleeve. piston and piston proper are moved axially, the one in respect to the other.

3. An engine comprising a cylinder, piston and outer support, said piston having a reciprocating movement within said cylinder, and an oblique rotary connection between said cylinde` and outer support arranged to cause rotation oit one of the elements in respectto the other when said piston is reciprocated. the said members having cooperating ports and valves whereby the motive fluid will be introduced lirst into the ends ot the cylinder and from thence, into the explosion chamber between said piston proper and the head ot said sleeve piston.

4. In an engine, the combination with an outer support, of a cylinder arranged to rotate within said support, ay sleeve piston working within said cylinder, a piston proper working within said cylinder, and an oblique connection reacting against said support and coupled to said sleeve piston and piston proper 4lor rotation therewith, whereby said cylinder, sleeve piston and piston proper will be rotated when said sleeve piston and piston proper are moved axially, the one in respect to the other, the said members having cooperating ports and valves whereby the motive fluid will be introduced first into the ends of the cylinder and from thence into the explosion chamber between said piston proper and the head of said sleeve piston.

5. An engine comprising a rotary cylinder', a sleeve piston working within said cylinder, a piston proper working within said sleeve piston, valve-equipped ports controlling admission and exhaust to and trom the chamber formed between said piston proper and the head of said sleeve piston, a connecting ring surrounding said cylinder and arranged to rotate in a plane oblique to the axis thereot', said ring being connected to impart common rotary movement to said cylinder, sleeve piston and piston and having diametrically opposite connect-ions to said sleeve piston and piston, whereby when said sleeve piston and piston are given reverse axial movements by pressure applied between the same, said cylinder, sleeve piston and piston will be rotated.

6. In an engine, the combination with a non-rotary outer shell atl'ording a support and a source ot' fluid pressure supply, of a cylinder arranged to rotate within said outer shell and provided with a valve-equipped intake port leading from said chamber, a sleeve piston working within said cylinder and provided in its head with an inwardly opening check valve, a piston working in said sleeve valve, said cylinder and sleeve piston having cooperating exhaust ports, a connecting ring mounted in said support, surrounding said cylinder and arranged to rotate in a plane oblique to the axis ot the cylinder, said ring having dan'ietrically opposite coupling devices connected one to said sleeve piston and the other to said piston proper, the said connecting ring being arranged to rotate with said cylinder, sleeve piston and piston, said sleeve piston and piston having reciprocating movements within said cylinder, and means lor introducing motive fluid into the chamber ol said outer shell.

7. The structure defined in claim 6 in tin which said cylinder has an axially projecting heads of said sleeve piston into the respective explosion chambers, and a connecting ring mounted for rotation in said support in a plane oblique to the axis ot' said cylinder, said ring being pivotally connected to said sleeve` piston rand double-.ended piston, said cylinder, sleeve piston and doub1e-ended piston being connected for connnon rotation and said sleeve piston and piston being tree for axial movements, the one in respect to the other and in respect to said Cylinder.

9. The structure defined in claim 8 in which said outer support is formed with chambers surrounding the intermediate por- 5 tion ot said piston and in which the fuel intake ports lead from said chamber to the opposite ends of said cylinder.

l0. The structure defined in Claim 8 in which said Cylinder and sleeve piston are provided with cooperating exhaust ports arranged tov be opened approximately at the liinit ot the Working strokes of said piston, said outer support having cylindrical portions that surround the opposite ends of said cylinder and formed with exhaust passages that surround the exhaust ports of said Cylinder and open to the atmosphere.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

ARTHUR H. WRIGHT. 

